Last issue of F1 Magazine found me reading Peter Windsor stuff. Wasn't he on charge of McLaren's public relations? I think he had signed for Ron Dennis. More to say, his article was about FERNANDO ALONSO.... full of equality, fair play and objectiveness... I'm thinking on not to buy that magazine anymore....

I'm not such a fan of his work, mainly due to his writing style, I think.He's undoubtedly technically knowledgable and his articles have often been very informative, but he just keeps putting things in that feel like he's trying to oversensationalise things.

A lot of his post-race reviews have been "blah blah blah and then DriverX came out and was - whisper it - five tenths quicker on his first lap"

It's like yeah, okay Pete, we get that this guy is good. I don't need anybody telling me how to read into it, thanks.

Windsor was Williams team manager and ran Ferrari's Guildford technical center for a time. Calling him a "hack" is a bit harsh. The man's got some cred.

Windsor was an F1 scribe and motoring-journo back in the 70's. I have an old issue of Autocar where he's road-testing a Fiat X1/9!

I knew he was with Williams and my belief is that he left under something of a cloud. Don't recall an involvement with ferrari but it was before my time. I agree his 'slow second phase turn in' stuff is ridiculous but wonder how he gets away with it? I'd love to know what the real F1 insiders (like Brundle or DC for example) think of Windsor because my hunch is that he's a self-important little idiot but - hey! - what do I know?

The fact that he worked for top F1 teams but had to return to hackdom is telling I believe...

Originally posted by LostProphet I'm not such a fan of his work, mainly due to his writing style, I think.He's undoubtedly technically knowledgable and his articles have often been very informative, but he just keeps putting things in that feel like he's trying to oversensationalise things.

A lot of his post-race reviews have been "blah blah blah and then DriverX came out and was - whisper it - five tenths quicker on his first lap"

It's like yeah, okay Pete, we get that this guy is good. I don't need anybody telling me how to read into it, thanks.

That's my issue with him too. Trying too hard. I think that's not just him though the press in general seems to feel the need to not only grab your attention but smash you in the face with a wiffle bat over absolutely everything.

Windsor has just turned the dial up to 10 in the last few years (as indeed has the magazine he writes for funnily enough) though when a 5 or a 6 would suffice.

He had two stints at Williams, actually. He started in '84 or '85, if memory serves, managing sponsorship. It was during this first go-round at Williams that he and Sir Frank were involved in the car accident that caused Williams' disability. Windsor then bounced around with Mansell and followed him over to Ferrari, managing Ferrari's British tech center created at the behest of John Barnard. Windsor followed Mansell back to Williams, at which time he assumed the team manager role. I don't know what led to his departure from that position.

As a writer he's a hack. As Speed's only on-site information conduit he is indispensible. I wouldn't miss him if Speed used someone on the scene who was better or at least more palatable but who would you suggest? Ecclestone must like him since he's got the job of post-race interviewer. I've got no complaints about how he does that. He tiptoes nicely around each driver's sensibilities and that's not easy to do with paranoids like Alonso. Imagine David Hobbs's carefully crafted nuances falling on his ears. Better the devil you know.

It's got probably more to do with Windsors character than with Lewis... I remember first noticing him as a proud member of the "brown five" back in Mansells day. Nowadays it's Lewis, I lost track of whom he worshipped at particular times in between. The thing is, he always seems to chose someone among the drivers to idolize and then he's behaving just as stupid as the worst fanboys here on the board.

Last issue of F1 Magazine found me reading Peter Windsor stuff. Wasn't he on charge of McLaren's public relations? I think he had signed for Ron Dennis. More to say, his article was about FERNANDO ALONSO.... full of equality, fair play and objectiveness... I'm thinking on not to buy that magazine anymore....

It takes all of 2 seconds to get a brief career outline of Peter Windsor http://en.wikipedia....i/Peter_WindsorWhat your trying to say is you don't agree or understand some of the points he was making because it doesn't fit into your perception of Alonso.

not at all, big x, I can understand he doesn't like Alonso's hard style. After all it is nothing new. It took three years to have a report about Alonso's driving in a test with a Megane, made with a taste of disbelief. Talking 'about driving styles is just another business. My dislike comes from some words I believe I've heard from Flav. He told something like FIA's investigations about spying McLaren came from some kind of information made by Mr Windsor, which bill was paid by Ron Dennis. But now I'm not sure if it was Mr Bishop Flav was talking about.

by the way, I do like his reports. But I feel it's like reading a fiction book to me, you know? I think it's impossible to any human being to sit there and just see that cars running at 300 kph, and just take notice of an imperceptible touch on the gas pedal in the middle of a fast turn that throws the rear or the car tothe right way managing the weight as if you were some kind of magician..... all you can see is who pass fast and smooth and who makes it slow or heavy... and as you know that doesn't translate into lap times....

Last issue of F1 Magazine found me reading Peter Windsor stuff. Wasn't he on charge of McLaren's public relations? I think he had signed for Ron Dennis. More to say, his article was about FERNANDO ALONSO.... full of equality, fair play and objectiveness... I'm thinking on not to buy that magazine anymore....

Peter Windsor has been anti-Alonso since the times of the dinosaurs, dear. Don't expect any changes now.

Either you buy the mag because there might be other stuff worth reading, or you simply leave it on the shelf.

"Currently Peter Windsor carries out on-location reports from Formula 1 venues for SPEED Channel. He is also the moderator for Formula 1's post-qualifying and post-race press conferences. Technically, Windsor isn't really a SPEED employee. He is actually a part of the pool coverage that SPEED relies on for its video coverage, gathering interviews with drivers and other F1 personnel during a race weekend. "

I did not see a crisp blurb about what he does but instead a link to a wikepedia Article and stuff about Anti-Alonso. A lot or people are not interested in reading an entire article to know what a person does. That is why I posted what I wrote.

"Currently Peter Windsor carries out on-location reports from Formula 1 venues for SPEED Channel. He is also the moderator for Formula 1's post-qualifying and post-race press conferences. Technically, Windsor isn't really a SPEED employee. He is actually a part of the pool coverage that SPEED relies on for its video coverage, gathering interviews with drivers and other F1 personnel during a race weekend. "

True, and that is my second encounter with mr Windsor, first being as a F1 racing journo.

Due to unhappy circumstances (Swedish TV not broadcasting F1 qualy in a channel acessible to me) I've had to rely on SPEED TV stream on the net to be able to see it.

To be honest I was shocked by the ignorance and biasedness exhibited by the SPEED commentators, including mr Windsor. I know a lot of people here complain about ITV & James Allen, but compared to the SPEED lot James Allen is a wonder of F1 knowledge and a pleasure to listen to. (and that is coming from an Alonso-fan, so it gives you an idea how bad they are.;) )

Peter Windsor has been anti-Alonso since the times of the dinosaurs, dear. Don't expect any changes now.

Either you buy the mag because there might be other stuff worth reading, or you simply leave it on the shelf.

You mean the same Peter Windsor who worshipped Alonso only 2 years ago??

You guys need to go back and re-read some issues instead of making stuff up. Don't just start on character assasination just because some journalist doesn't have views that reflect yours. But then that is pretty much the status quo around here n'est pas?

I remember not too long ago when he had his head firmly up Schumacher's arse!I would never call Windsor unbiased in the least. For me he gushes over F1 personalities far too much, like a love struck teenaged girl over the highschool quarterback.

True, and that is my second encounter with mr Windsor, first being as a F1 racing journo.

Due to unhappy circumstances (Swedish TV not broadcasting F1 qualy in a channel acessible to me) I've had to rely on SPEED TV stream on the net to be able to see it.

To be honest I was shocked by the ignorance and biasedness exhibited by the SPEED commentators, including mr Windsor. I know a lot of people here complain about ITV & James Allen, but compared to the SPEED lot James Allen is a wonder of F1 knowledge and a pleasure to listen to. (and that is coming from an Alonso-fan, so it gives you an idea how bad they are.;) )

The whole mag is now just an Alonso bash fest. In almost every article he takes a swipe at Alonso. For example in the issue where Kimi won the WC.

-In the Kovalainen article he states he isnt in the Ayrton, Jimmy or Jackie class but he could be a Fernando or Mika
-In the Sato article he describes how Sato overtook Alonso at Canada fair and square and Alonso had no excuses or mitigating circumstances.
-Every race report bashes Alonso and describes Hamiltons feats as super human.

If his contributions were limited it would be ok but he seems to write most of the articles and reports in the magazine so its become a waste of time.

Having discussed at length about this with a particular driver a year or so ago (who happens to be one of the best technical testers in F1) along with other drivers...most regard his theories on driving style to be pretty junky. Some of it is actually correct (the issues with coordination of dynamic weight; that's a proper vehicle dynamics issue, however it's pretty clear to other engineers like me that he heard an engineer speak a word or two about it and just ran with it), but the issue with second-phase turn in, etc, is often over-sensationalizing the issue. There are a lot of VERY important issues there, and it's something that both drivers and engineers scrutinize on telemetry when trying to get every last bit, but it's often NOT something that's necessary obvious or even common sense when just watching a driver. If it was, people would wonder how Alonso goes so fast and wonder why guys like Button, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, etc, aren't going seconds a lap faster.

You mean the same Peter Windsor who worshipped Alonso only 2 years ago??

You guys need to go back and re-read some issues instead of making stuff up. Don't just start on character assasination just because some journalist doesn't have views that reflect yours. But then that is pretty much the status quo around here n'est pas?

Cooper

He's never worshipped Alonso.

Not that I would want a serious F1 journo to worship any driver. The mere fact that the words "worship" and "Windsor" often occur in the same sentence speaks volumes.

Not that I would want a serious F1 journo to worship any driver. The mere fact that the words "worship" and "Windsor" often occur in the same sentence speaks volumes.

And I've read the rag since 1998.

I must have made it up then! But as my memory serves me well enough, I recall plenty of Alonso worship in 2005-2006. He began to transition from Schumacher to Alonso then, and I was sure ALonso was going to be his next great love, after Clark, Stewart, Mansell, Schumacher etc... Then Hamilton came along and changed that, so that Alonso is now the antagonist in his play.

Fact is who cares? If you agree with him great, if not, fine. He is an intelligent guy that yearns to understand the differences between the drivers' driving styles, whilst most other reporters write opinion pieces based on conduct on/off track and management shuffles : . Doesn't mean he always gets it right, but at least he tries, I have no idea why the other muppets even bother with their drivel, it's mostly filler fluff.That said, his opinion is in the present case strongly coloured by driver conduct that is very very hard to judge, given the complex relationships between team and driver, and the various expectations on either side. Alonso has definitely gotten the short end of the stick recently, I find it hard to believe it is all deserved.

Originally posted by CWeil Having discussed at length about this with a particular driver a year or so ago (who happens to be one of the best technical testers in F1) along with other drivers...most regard his theories on driving style to be pretty junky. Some of it is actually correct (the issues with coordination of dynamic weight; that's a proper vehicle dynamics issue, however it's pretty clear to other engineers like me that he heard an engineer speak a word or two about it and just ran with it), but the issue with second-phase turn in, etc, is often over-sensationalizing the issue. There are a lot of VERY important issues there, and it's something that both drivers and engineers scrutinize on telemetry when trying to get every last bit, but it's often NOT something that's necessary obvious or even common sense when just watching a driver. If it was, people would wonder how Alonso goes so fast and wonder why guys like Button, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, etc, aren't going seconds a lap faster.

For what it's worth, I think Matchett is just as self-righteously bad during commentary, even if his book was pretty good!

Rather than telling us a certain fairy(presumably Herr Wurz) thinks this or that about that or this, how about telling us WHY! As in why are his theories "junky" ?. Otherwise you are contributing nothing except hearsay in a piss-on-Windsor session. And that part is VERY easy

well, if this is a piss-on-windsor session, then let me reinterate my disappointment with F1racing's 2007 season review. i actually like lewis - i think his is an incredible story - but he wasn't 75% of the season. which is what F1racing's articles would have us believe. and windsor was the worst offender of all in this department. nothing personal, never met the man ... just pissed at wasting my money (and being trapped 5mins into a 90min train ride with nothing to read).

Originally posted by Architrion Last issue of F1 Magazine found me reading Peter Windsor stuff. Wasn't he on charge of McLaren's public relations? I think he had signed for Ron Dennis. More to say, his article was about FERNANDO ALONSO.... full of equality, fair play and objectiveness... I'm thinking on not to buy that magazine anymore....

Matt Bishop, with all his shortcomings, was a most valuable asset of F1 Racing magazine. I expect under Peter Windsor F1 Racing is going to lose their last remaining readers. Windsor has some good knowledge about F1, but as a journalist he is an embarrassment. Sometimes he is good at analysis, but he is so afraid to look boring that he often starts to run into extremes of cheerleading and worshipping, but does it with such a coarseness that devaluates his primary attempt of analysis and makes him look like a PR tosser. I used to read his articles in F1 Racing a couple of years ago and have often felt very uncomfortable for him. In my view, he had written himself out, and long time ago.

I like F1 Racing magazine. Along with Autosport, they are good reads.
As far as Windsor goes, he's quite opinionated (seems a huge fan of both Schu and Hamilton), but that makes life more interesting. There's no obligation to agree with him. He is only one contributor to F1 Racing magazine.

I must have made it up then! But as my memory serves me well enough, I recall plenty of Alonso worship in 2005-2006. He began to transition from Schumacher to Alonso then, and I was sure ALonso was going to be his next great love, after Clark, Stewart, Mansell, Schumacher etc... Then Hamilton came along and changed that, so that Alonso is now the antagonist in his play.

It does indeed seem like Windsor has some Transylvanian blood as he seem quite allergic of daylight and needs to bury his head deep in....

There is one Croatian F1 site called F1-HR (www.f1-hr.com), and their writer Mladen Jergovic who claims to be very good friend of Peter Windsor. In every story he writes something like this ''Peter emals me some new insider stories talk from Ferrari/McLaren/FIA''.

That is the first time when I heard of mister ''know it all in F1 paddock'' Windsor, and search for comments on Atlas BB. He is good for fun

I must have made it up then! But as my memory serves me well enough, I recall plenty of Alonso worship in 2005-2006. He began to transition from Schumacher to Alonso then, and I was sure ALonso was going to be his next great love, after Clark, Stewart, Mansell, Schumacher etc... Then Hamilton came along and changed that, so that Alonso is now the antagonist in his play.

Fact is who cares? If you agree with him great, if not, fine. He is an intelligent guy that yearns to understand the differences between the drivers' driving styles, whilst most other reporters write opinion pieces based on conduct on/off track and management shuffles : . Doesn't mean he always gets it right, but at least he tries, I have no idea why the other muppets even bother with their drivel, it's mostly filler fluff.That said, his opinion is in the present case strongly coloured by driver conduct that is very very hard to judge, given the complex relationships between team and driver, and the various expectations on either side. Alonso has definitely gotten the short end of the stick recently, I find it hard to believe it is all deserved.

Cooper

Yes, I'm sorry, you must have dreamed it up.

I recall ONE article on Alonso in 2005, none in 2006 except for the driving style theories bit.

He wasn't even on the cover when he'd won the WDC for the first time. Instead they had the McLaren of Kimi and headline was "why didn't Kimi win?" He was hardly mentioned inside the mag as well. Same goes for the 2006 WDC, MS retirement was obviously much more important.

Most race reviews (all of which were - and still are - written by PW) mentioned him as little as possible (to ignore him completely would have been difficult though, even for PW)

I especially recall the review of Japan 05 where Alonso's overtaking of MS was referred to as "Alonso overtook Schumacher in 130R". Period. At the same time Kimi's overtaking of Fisi was described in the most poetic way: "Finnish knife cutting through delicate Italian salami" or something like that.

Now, my objective is not to take anything away from either MS nor Kimi, but the Alonso worship you mention at least my issues have been totally devoid of.

I get your point regarding his driving style theories, at least he tries. Problem is that he overdoes it, now he can't even mention a driver without referring to some driving style mumbo-jumbo. A heap of words that sounds impressive, but doesn't really mean much.

I still buy it though. Partly because it's the only F1 magazine available in Sweden unless you go to international press shops. And there can - sometimes - be other articles worth reading.

I've been taking a closer look at the last issue. PW writes a very good article about Kimi but you can find there another fine example of his lack of consistency. He raises Kimi as the "perfect racer" because he only does what it has to be done, ie, to race and let "politics" apart, although what PW means about "politics" is everything relative to team management, more in a Schumacher's way. Last year he was claiming for Fernando to become the perfect racer, ie, to carry the team on his shoulders and make all that politic that he found necessary as Schumi did with Ferrari...... which one is the perfect racer?

If I remember it correctly, Frank Williams got in a row with Peter Windsor (when he was teammanager at Williams), and Windsor left. I also remember (please correct me if I am wrong) that Keke Rosberg was very upset about it, even to the extent that he onced blurted out to either the son of Patrick Head or Frank Williams: 'Peter was the best teammanager Williams ever had. Your dad was foolish to push him away.'